五桠果 wu ya guo

Dillenia speciosa Thunberg.

Evergreen trees to 30 m tall, ca. 1.2 m d.b.h. Bark reddish brown, exfoliating; young branchlets brown pubescent, glabrescent; leaf scars obvious. Petiole narrowly winged; leaf blade oblong or obovate-oblong, 15-40 × 7-14 cm, secondary veins (20-)30-40(-70) on either side, parallel, margin obviously serrate. Flowers solitary, 12-20 cm in diam., more than 5 cm in diam. in bud. Sepals 5, approximately rounded, 4-6 cm in diam., thickly fleshy. Petals white, obovate, 7-9 cm. Stamens in 2 distinct groups, outer very numerous, slightly curved in bud, inner ca. 25, apically reflexed outward in bud; anthers dehiscing with 2 pores. Carpels 16-20; stylodia spreading; ovules many per carpel. Aggregate fruit globose, 10-15 cm in diam., indehiscent; persistent sepals fleshy, slightly swollen. Seeds 5 or more per carpel, exarillate.

Valleys, streamsides. S Guangxi, S Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam].

The fruit of this species is edible.